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Exogenous application of strigolactone alleviates drought stress in maize seedlings by regulating the physiological and antioxidants defense mechanisms

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Abstract

Drought stress is an alarming threat to food security in the climate change scenario. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of strigolactone for drought tolerance in maize seedlings. The treatments consisted of two water regimes, i.e., (1) well-watered, at 80% water holding capacity (WHC) and (2) drought stress, at 40% WHC which were factorally combined with three Strigolactone concentrations (0, 10 and 20 µM) as foliar spray. Results revealed that drought stress diminishes the seedling growth, plant water relations and photosynthetic activities by producing more reactive oxygen species which lead to higher oxidative damage in maize seedlings. Application of strigolactone improved plant growth attributes by improving the gas exchange parameters, water relations and chlorophyll pigments. Application of strigolactone also enhanced the enzymatic antioxidants activities, including superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase in stressed seedlings over control. In conclusion, strigolactone improved the water relations, increased photosynthetic pigments and gas exchange parameters and enhanced antioxidant enzymatic activities to impart drought stress tolerance in maize seedlings. To best of our knowledge, this is the first study on role on strigolactone on drought stress tolerance mechanism in maize seedling.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by Researchers Supporting Project (RSP-2020/7) King Saud University, Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

Funding

This project was supported by Researchers Supporting Project (RSP-2020/7) King Saud University, Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Bahadur Sub-Campus, Layyah, Pakistan

    Abdul Sattar, Sami Ul-Allah, Muhammad Ijaz, Ahmad Sher, Madiha Butt & Tahira Abbas

  2. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Muhammad Irfan

  3. Faculty of Science and Technology, Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan

    Tehreem Fatima

  4. Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Saleh Alfarraj

  5. Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Sulaiman Ali Alharbi

Authors
  1. Abdul Sattar
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  2. Sami Ul-Allah
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  3. Muhammad Ijaz
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  4. Ahmad Sher
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  7. Muhammad Irfan
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  8. Tehreem Fatima
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  9. Saleh Alfarraj
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  10. Sulaiman Ali Alharbi
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Contributions

A.Sa., A. Sh., M. Ir. and M. Ij. planned and conducted experiment, and supervised data collection. S. U.-A. and A.Sa were responsible for statistical analyses and wrote discussion section and critical review of the manuscript. T.A., M.B. and T.F. done laboratory studies, graphical work, wrote introduction, materials and methods and results. S.A. and S.A.A. acquired the funding and edited the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sami Ul-Allah.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by V. Korzun.

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Sattar, A., Ul-Allah, S., Ijaz, M. et al. Exogenous application of strigolactone alleviates drought stress in maize seedlings by regulating the physiological and antioxidants defense mechanisms. CEREAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS 50, 263–272 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42976-021-00171-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42976-021-00171-z

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